Pandora CEO Tim Westergren noted today that it pays some of the top artists in the world over $1 million per year in royalties, with Lil Wayne and Drake topping the list at $3 million per year.
Says the exec: "For over two thousand artists Pandora will pay over $10,000 dollars each over the next 12 months (including one of my favorites, the late jazz pianist Oscar Peterson), and for more than 800 we'll pay over $50,000, more than the income of the average American household. For top earners like Coldplay, Adele, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean and others Pandora is already paying over $1 million each."
Some smaller, upcoming acts, like Drake friend French Montana will make $138,567 this year, despite being the 17,000th best-selling artist on established platforms like Amazon, says Westergren.
"These are all working artists who live well outside the mainstream--no steady rotation on broadcast radio, no high profile opening slots on major tours, no front page placement in online retail," the CEO concludes.
More here: Pandora Blog
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 9 Oct 2012 21:49
